After reading atheists' thoughts on the state of mma I have to chime in here. I have trained boxing, thai boxing, bjj, tkd, and greco roman to some extent, and I'm here to tell you that putting roy jones jr. in an mma ring is a great way to showcase exactly why boxing, by itself, doesn't work in mma. Boxers have to worry about hands... that's it. That's all they have to train. Offence, defence... all hands. No leg kicks, no takedowns, no kimuras, no traingles. Just hands. In mma, if you use too much of boxings trademark defensive ducking, diving, head movement, you'll catch a crisp knee to the chin. Overcommit to a ko punch, you'll leave yourself open for leg kicks, takedowns, thai clinches (none of these things are boxers friends). I love and respect boxing, but if mike tyson steps into that octagon and fights like a boxer, fights like his only worry in the world is the other guys hands, you'll see a death in the ring. Goodbye forever Iron Mike. Chuck Liddell is a WORLD CLASS K-1 kickboxer!!! Striking was his only game and he was one of the best. When he first stepped into the world of mma he had to make HUGE adjustments in the way he implemented his strikes. He quickly found himself in alot of trouble when he threw those heavy shots with no strategy on how to deal with getting back out of range. These adjustments lead to his becoming a lhw champ. He understood that this was not just punches and kicks anymore and the cautious, pawing striker you see now is a result of that. Make no mistake, put him back into a ring where all he has to worry about is strikes and you will see a barrage of the deadliest strikes you have ever seen come out of a man. But this is mma, you have to worry about alot of things. This is not boxing. In closing, I believe that if you put mma's best boxers into a boxing ring with boxing's best boxers, the full time boxer i.e. Roy Jones, will likely always win. After all, hands are all they train, which means they are pinpoint accurate and very dangerous with them. Whereas, an mma fighter spends only about 15% to 20% of his training time on hands, because there are many more weapons he has to keep sharp. Conversely, if you put boxings best boxer into an mma ring, there will be absolutely no contest. Like I said before, boxers have only mastered 15% of the trade.
posted by maxotspartan at 11:12 PM on January 18, 2006
Royce Gracie Returns to UFC in May
After reading atheists' thoughts on the state of mma I have to chime in here. I have trained boxing, thai boxing, bjj, tkd, and greco roman to some extent, and I'm here to tell you that putting roy jones jr. in an mma ring is a great way to showcase exactly why boxing, by itself, doesn't work in mma. Boxers have to worry about hands... that's it. That's all they have to train. Offence, defence... all hands. No leg kicks, no takedowns, no kimuras, no traingles. Just hands. In mma, if you use too much of boxings trademark defensive ducking, diving, head movement, you'll catch a crisp knee to the chin. Overcommit to a ko punch, you'll leave yourself open for leg kicks, takedowns, thai clinches (none of these things are boxers friends). I love and respect boxing, but if mike tyson steps into that octagon and fights like a boxer, fights like his only worry in the world is the other guys hands, you'll see a death in the ring. Goodbye forever Iron Mike. Chuck Liddell is a WORLD CLASS K-1 kickboxer!!! Striking was his only game and he was one of the best. When he first stepped into the world of mma he had to make HUGE adjustments in the way he implemented his strikes. He quickly found himself in alot of trouble when he threw those heavy shots with no strategy on how to deal with getting back out of range. These adjustments lead to his becoming a lhw champ. He understood that this was not just punches and kicks anymore and the cautious, pawing striker you see now is a result of that. Make no mistake, put him back into a ring where all he has to worry about is strikes and you will see a barrage of the deadliest strikes you have ever seen come out of a man. But this is mma, you have to worry about alot of things. This is not boxing. In closing, I believe that if you put mma's best boxers into a boxing ring with boxing's best boxers, the full time boxer i.e. Roy Jones, will likely always win. After all, hands are all they train, which means they are pinpoint accurate and very dangerous with them. Whereas, an mma fighter spends only about 15% to 20% of his training time on hands, because there are many more weapons he has to keep sharp. Conversely, if you put boxings best boxer into an mma ring, there will be absolutely no contest. Like I said before, boxers have only mastered 15% of the trade.